This book was pretty annoying to read. One chapter per scene and a writing style that just tells, doesn’t show. Characters are flat even though we know about them. We can’t relate to them, we’re just there observing. There’s a lot of unnecessary scenes and characters that doesn’t really contribute to the whole story; the story would go on even if they were edited out. I predicted the culprit two-thirds into the book, and that pretty much set the whole thing in cruise control from there on out. Stereotypes galore, and he even got the hacker stereotype wrong. No seriously, what kind of hacker uses unsecured wifi to set up his hacks and whatnot? What kind of hacker uses dial-up when he has cameras sending him live feed of videos while monitoring other stuff? Ever heard of a mobile tethering hotspot?Lots of unnecessary jargon. What the hell is a banded duck? Why is it so important that we talk about it so much? Why do I have to know what kind of gun people are using? Why introduce a character so late in the story?Not enjoyable at all. “The Rented Mule” is a Southern-framed novel by West Point, MS, resident Bobby Cole. It is his third work, following “The Dummy Line” and “Moon Underfoot.”Cooper Dixon is a 36-year-old frustrated ad agency co-owner who dreams of trading the rat race for the outdoors. The Tower Agency is up for sale, but Cooper’s partner, and majority stockholder, has plans to weasel more than his share of the profits with the help of a local banker and his associate. Cut off from his family’s fortune, Gates Ballenger desperately needs the cash to pay off gambling and drug debts. Cooper, however, is unaware of the string pulling. Instead, he has a strong sense of family, right and wrong – and honesty. Born to hunt and fish, Cooper wants to buy pristine acreage from his family’s longtime housekeeper, Millie Brown, to build a hunter’s paradise retreat. (The novel’s title references one of Millie’s old-time sayings.)Cooper’s biggest vices are Mexican Coca-Colas and a growing infatuation with a colleague named Brooke Layton. Wife Kelly is all about money and the social status that she thinks dollars can provide.Their lives go awry when a motley criminal crew, including a former football star, a computer whiz, a female accomplice and a Larry King wannabe addicted to teeth-whitening strips, is hired by “the Client” to kidnap Kelly and implicate Cooper. He is determined to get to the truth of Kelly's disappearance while trying to evade police and arrest. The hunter becomes the hunted.The person behind the kidnapping comes as a surprise. Just know that he’s insane, possessing a drug-addled false sense of grandeur and the knowledge of his family’s deep and dark past. “Deep” and “dark” are key to the Client’s plans for Kelly and Cooper as well as Brooke and her son.“The Rented Mule” is not a quick read, coming in at 500 pages. It takes space to flesh out details, little nuggets that keep readers’ attention and let them relate to the characters, the settings and even the criminal mastermind’s back story. In the South, anything is possible.
What do You think about The Rented Mule (2014)?
Wow! Honestly thought I had things figured out and then the opposite would be revealed to be true!!
—leexv
Suspenseful who-dun-it set in Alabama with colorful Southern characters. Good beach read.
—emm
absolutely loved this book, didn't want to put it down
—bootyuk2
